I Like Your Technique
by Gmariam
Summary: "Black spots began to dance before Finn's eyes and he closed them, because his head hurt and dammit, why was Poe shouting and making him run again when he couldn't breathe, couldn't see any better, and still didn't know what was going on…" In which Poe helps Finn through a rough moment in an unexpected way.


I Like Your Technique

Finn woke up feeling cold and dirty—really dirty, with some blood mixed in. His limbs were like lead, and his chest felt as if a bantha had walked across it. And his head hurt so bad he thought he might vomit—what the hell had happened to him? He didn't remember drinking that much at the cantina, although he didn't remember what he'd been doing at the cantina in the first place. Maybe he _had_ been run over by a bantha. Or maybe he'd had too many Sarlacc Kickers, though it didn't explain the blood.

It was dark—no, not dark, more grey and cloudy but if clouds were made of ash and dust— and he couldn't hear anything but an annoying ringing in his ears. He was having trouble breathing, like there wasn't enough air in the room…no wait, the room was gone, and he could make out the sky peeking through the ash clouds. Had the bantha done that? Destroyed the cantina and crushed him on the way out? No, that didn't seem right… there'd been a big flash and a loud bang, then fire and smoke and lots of screaming. That was a bomb. Kriff, had he been blown up?

"What the hell happened?" he gasped to no one in particular as he tried to stand up, but it came out as dust and dirt, and he choked and gagged and stumbled instead. But he didn't fall, which was when he realized strong arms were supporting him, guiding him through a huge pile of rubble. The bantha bomb. Right. Finn stopped, patted down his arms and legs. "Do I have all my body parts?"

"You're walking and talking, buddy," said a familiar voice in his ear. "You're gonna be okay, but we've got to get out of here. Keep moving."

"Keep moving," Finn repeated, and said it again and again, like a mantra, thinking it would be a catchy song if he knew how to sing. It hurt to move, though, as if he had left something behind in the rubble after all—a toe, perhaps. He stopped to look, but an insistent hand kept him moving forward. Behind him came a crashing sound, and the ground shook, and the familiar voice beside him swore in Huttese as it struggled to keep them upright through another cloud of dust and ash. Finn wondered if the voice had drunk too many Sarlacc Kickers as well. Or maybe the bantha had come back.

"Run, Finn," said the voice, shouting this time. Finn remembered that shout. It was Poe. Poe Dameron, hero of the Resistance and also his best friend in the entire galaxy. Poe sounded very worried and tried to make Finn run, only Finn wanted to know what was behind them, what had happened to the bantha in the cantina. Apparently it was still knocking things down, as a large section of wall crashed to the ground. Or maybe it was another bomb. Either way, he was ready to move again.

He turned around too fast, and it hurt so much he gasped, which was when he remembered how hard it was to breathe. Instinctively he tried to suck in a deeper breath, but there was a sharp pain in his chest, and he staggered once more. Panic began to set it because where were they, what was going on, and how were they going to survive the bantha?

He felt his heart pounding as it tried to keep up with the stress of not knowing anything, and of trying to keep his body upright and moving even though the air around them seemed to have disappeared and his lungs grew tighter and tighter searching for it. At least he could see through the ashy clouds better, and he glanced around to find Poe beside him, shouting into a commlink and literally dragging him through the street and away from whatever was behind them. But then black spots began to dance before Finn's eyes and he closed them, because his head hurt and dammit, why was Poe shouting and making him run again when he couldn't breathe, couldn't see any better after all, and still didn't know what was going on…

Poe grabbed his hand and pulled him around a corner, where they found the _Millennium Falcon_ parked in a docking bay. Convenient, as Finn didn't feel like he could run much longer. The ramp was down and Rey was there, waving her arms as if they couldn't see her jumping up and down right in front of the ship. She held out a hand and waved it around and there was the sound of crashing and yelling behind them. Several bright oranges flashes flew by and missed them– blaster bolts then. Okay, they were being chased. Finn had been blown up, and now he was being chased. Definitely a bad day, especially if he was right about the bantha.

A Sarlacc Kicker sounded pretty good about then.

Finn tripped running up the ramp, Poe swearing in a different language as he dragged him inside, Rey waving her Force hand around some more. He collapsed at the top, could swear he saw at least fifty bounty hunters running toward them, and whooped as the ramp closed. They'd got away. No more running from banthas.

"Is he okay?" he heard Rey ask. He started coughing, but at least the ringing in his ears had stopped. Only he didn't hear Poe's response, and then Rey was leaving. Poe put Finn's arm around his shoulder again and helped him stand. Finn must have looked confused because Poe smiled the way he did whenever Finn was confused.

"She's gone up to help Chewie," he said. "Come on, let's get you set up on the med bunk. You look like hell."

Finn nodded and moved slowly now that they weren't being chased. "So do you." Poe was dirty and scratched, his shirt was ripped, and there was a big cut on his head. Not an unusual look for Poe Dameron, but he was limping as they walked. Was Finn really that heavy?

"Yeah, well, you look worse, pal. I wasn't in the cantina when it blew," Poe said. "I was sitting outside. You took the brunt of it."

"Of what?" Finn asked, hoping now he'd finally get the whole story. And maybe some air, as he still couldn't seem to breathe quite right.

"Couple of proximity bombs went off. Not sure if it was for us or the fifteen bounty hunters in there looking for us. Could be some kind of turf war."

"Right," said Finn. "Bounty hunters. Bombs. And a bantha. That's a lot of bees." He frowned, looked down, reeled a little at the motion and decided to hold his head up. Maybe it would help him breathe easier. "Speaking of letters, where's BB-8?"

"Fixing something, as usual." Poe grunted as he limped next to Finn, making Finn think he needed to lose some weight or this might not go so well next time. The ship banked unexpectedly, and Finn stumbled again, swearing like a Stormtrooper as he fell and took Poe with him. His chest exploded, like the bantha had kicked him as he tried to escape the cantina, and the air around him disappeared.

"I can't breathe," he said, or gasped, or maybe only thought in his head as he struggled to his knees. He looked at Poe with wide eyes and saw the black spots again. Something to do with air, he thought, and wondered why he couldn't remember how his own body worked. Which was when his head reminded him it had been hit hard, and he shook it to get rid of the pain.

Only that made the pain worse, and he still couldn't breathe, and he started waving his hand around as if it could fan the air into his lungs. Poe was saying something, but Finn couldn't hear him over the roar of blood in his ears. Poe took his face, looked him in the eyes, and spoke very slowly.

"Look at me," he said. Finn was surprised to find he could read lips at that moment, and gorgeous lips at that. "Come on, stay with me, pal. Look at me and breathe slowly, deeply."

_I'm not going anywhere,_ Finn wanted to snap but nothing came out except a whistling huff of air. He shook his head. He couldn't breathe deep or slow, he was dying from drinking too many Sarlacc Kickers on the bantha. No, it was a bomb in the cantina. He was dying from being caught in a stupid explosion in stupid cantina on some stupid planet he couldn't remember, and his head was so cracked and his lungs so broken he couldn't even think straight to make a dying confession if he had one. Which he didn't, did he?

Poe frowned, his thumbs starting to stroke gently along Finn's jaw, his hands caressing circles against his neck. "Relax, Finn. That's all you need to do to breathe. Get one good, deep breath, and then we'll keep walking and you can lie down, take it easy. Relax," he whispered.

Finn couldn't relax without air, and thought Poe Dameron might be the dumbest man in the galaxy at that moment. He shook his head again, because it was the only way he knew how to communicate without air that it simply wasn't possible to relax, it hurt too much and he couldn't breathe. Poe frowned again and leaned forward and, just like that, his lips were on Finn's mouth. Kissing him.

Finn was so surprised that he gasped and inhaled, and this time some air made it to his lungs. Poe kept kissing him, kept running his hands along Finn's face, and Finn closed his eyes and relaxed because _yes_ this was much better than dying from strangulation, or suffocation, or whatever it was called when you couldn't breathe. This was nice, this was Poe, and had he ever thought about this before? Because weren't they friends, and did friends usually stick their tongue down your throat when you were dying?

Poe pulled back as if he'd heard Finn's thought, and he wondered if he'd said it out loud.

"You were panicking," Poe said with a smile, though not the big bright one Finn would have expected from the best pilot in the galaxy. He felt like it was a special one for him, or maybe he'd been hit harder than he thought. "Better?"

"What the hell happened?" Finn asked for the second time that day. Poe seemed a little bit hesitant, but he helped Finn stand, and they stumbled to the med bunk. Finn leaned heavily on Poe, who was limping even more. "Are you okay?"

"We're back on the _Falcon,_" Poe said. He practically dropped Finn onto the bed, breathing heavy. "Making another quick getaway. And I'm fine."

"Bad habit for us, that," Finn said, and Poe barked out a sharp laugh. Finn's head must have been starting to clear because it seemed like Poe was in pain. "And I don't believe you."

"Yeah, well, better a quick getaway than a dozen bounty hunters coming after us." He helped Finn get comfortable on the bed, hooked him up to some monitors, and started slapping bacta patches on him. "You took a direct hit, buddy, so we're going straight back to base to get your injuries looked at."

"From the bomb," Finn clarified, to be sure he wasn't nursing the galaxy's worst hangover after all.

"From the bomb." Poe nodded. "I'd say you've got a pretty serious concussion from the way you're talking, and some broken ribs from the way you're breathing. This should help the pain." Finn felt something on his arm, but he wasn't sure what it was, so he nodded, and his head didn't feel like it was going to fall off and roll away so it must have already been working. Even his chest started to relax.

"Thanks," he said, letting his eyes finally slip closed. Stars, he wanted to sleep. But there was one more thing he needed to know.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, gazing up at Poe. Now that the black spots had stopped dancing through his vision, Finn could not only see but recognize the worried look on the other man's face. "What you did back there."

"You couldn't breathe," Poe said, as if that explained it all. Finn couldn't remember learning that technique in basic training.

"So you stuck your tongue down my throat to fix it?"

Poe sighed. "First of all, I did not stick my tongue down your throat. I kept it modest. And second of all, you relaxed, didn't you? You were having a panic attack. I needed to calm you down."

"I wasn't having a panic attack."

This time Poe smirked. "Finn, that was one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. You were just blown up—"

"I knew it," Finn murmured, then remembered Poe had already confirmed it several times.

"— and chased by bounty hunters, with a concussion, some broken ribs, and who knows how many other injuries. You couldn't breathe, so I helped you breathe."

"Isn't there another way people usually do that?" Finn asked. Poe's reasoning was both logical and completely ridiculous.

"There's one for when you stop breathing," Poe said. "So don't stop breathing. You're going to be fine, we can regroup back at base and lay low for a few days. Then we start over, try and make a new contact for the intel."

Finn had no idea what Poe was talking about, where they'd been, or what they'd been doing there, or why a bomb had gone off. Maybe it didn't matter.

"Poe," he said, reaching out and trying not to grimace when his arm felt like a tree limb. He took Poe's hand and pulled him closer, hard and clumsy so that the other man had to catch himself before falling on top of the bed.

"Thank you," he said, then kissed him back like he should have done earlier. Poe made a funny little noise in the back of his throat, one that sounded like surprise and happiness all at once. It made Finn smile against Poe's lips before ending the kiss. "I like your technique."

"My technique?" Poe asked stupidly, then dropped his head and laughed through his nose. "Oh, Finn, you are really going to hate yourself when you're better." He ran a gentle hand over Finn's face and through his hair. "If you even remember any of this."

"I probably won't," Finn agreed. "So you'd better remind me."

Poe shook his head. "Best it's forgotten, buddy. I don't want to get slapped again." He laughed to himself, but sounded sad, and Finn hated it when Poe was sad.

"Remind me," he said, his voice firm. "Because I want to remember this."

Poe's eyes widened slightly, and he leaned forward, but to Finn's disappointment, he only placed a quick kiss on Finn's forehead. "Then I hope you remember," Poe said softly. "Get some rest. I'm going to check in up front, then come back and sit with you."

He turned and walked away, still limping. Finn closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing, on staying relaxed even though whatever Poe had given him was working great. Or maybe it was the kiss. He felt Poe return and take his hand, and fell asleep determined to remember it, no matter what Poe said. It had been way more than good technique.

He dreamed of a herd of banthas plowing through the sand as he and Poe watched from the top of the _Falcon, _drinking their Sarlacc Kickers and holding hands. A group of bounty hunters cheered as they kissed, and Finn smiled as he slept, wondering what was real and what was the dream, and what the world would be like when he woke up.

* * *

Author's Note:

I feel like I'm taking a bit of a risk here, in writing something slightly more humorous for this fandom and pairing (haven't seen too many) and as my second story out. Add in the panicked kissing trope and some dubious medical writing, and I'm biting my nails a little. But it was short, quick scene that I saw very clearly and wanted to have fun with, maybe because my next story is more angst-ridden. So I hope you read it with a smile and enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!


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